The RBI has also revised its fiscal-end inflation projection to 7 per cent from 6 per cent earlier.
With today`s increase of 0.50 per cent, the short-term lending (repo) rate has been hiked to 8 per cent and the short-term borrowing (reverse repo) rate has also been increased by a similar margin to 7 per cent.
It, however, has retained the cash reserve ratio (CRR) at 6 per cent.
"Notwithstanding signs of moderation, inflationary pressures are clearly very strong... inflation continues to be the dominant macroeconomic concern. On the basis of this assessment, it has been decided to increase policy repo rate by 50 basis points from 7.5 to 8 per cent with immediate effect," RBI Governor D Subbarao said while announcing the quarterly review of the monetary policy.
This is the 11th time since March, 2010, that the RBI has raised the interest rate to check inflation, which is currently ruling at over 9 per cent.
The RBI`s unexpected decision led to a sharp decline of over 300 points in the BSE Sensex. The 30-share Sensex fell to 18,570 after announcement of the policy, although it had opened in positive terrain. .